Curtain-operating device.



Patented Oct. 3, |899.

L. B. SMYSER.

CURTAIN OPERATING DEVICE.

(Application led Sept. 13, 1897.)

(No Model.)

Nr .NAMEN UJI/63 EMI 4f,"

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS B. SMYSER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOI-IN A. BRILL, OF SAME PLACE.

CURTAIN-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,189, dated October 3, 1899.

Y Application tiled September 13, 1897. Serial No. 651,562. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, LOUIS B. SMYsER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Operating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to devices for operating curtains for cars and the like in which the friction of a cord or cords is utilized for the purpose of holding the curtain in its position of adjustment up and down without the use of the spring or gravity latch devices commonly employed.

My invention consists in the combination, with the curtain, of a hollow curtain rod or tube and a continuous cord or wire passing through said rod and engaging means for frictionally opposing the movement of the the tube and means for movably supporting the cord above and below the tube. y

My invention also includes the combination, with a curtain, of the tube secured thereto, a continuous cord, and means for supporting it located above and below the curtain, the cord supported upon said means above the curtain on one side passing through the rod and connecting the said supporting means below the curtain on the other side.

My invention further consists in the combination of parts hereinafter described, and further pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a window-casing, the curtain secured therein, and my operating device connected therewith; Fig. 2, a like View showing the curtain-bar in section; Fig. 3, a sectional elevation on the line 3 3, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, an enlarged sectional view on the line 4 4, Fig. 3.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

I have applied my improvements to a curtain wherein a spring is embodied in the curtain-roller for the purpose of winding the curtain thereon, said spring being of sufficient strength to keep the curtain taut, but not strong enough to lift the curtain against the resistance of the frictional devices interposed in its line of movement up and down; but my improvements can be applied to a curtain provided with other means for taking up the slack in the upward movement thereof, such as gravity or the like.

In the drawings a suitable window-casing is illustrated at 1 and 2, the vertical sides 4 of the casing forming a groove 3.

At 5 are hangers secured to the top crossbar 1 of the window-casing, in which is rotatably supported a curtain-roller 6, containing the spring above mentioned, by means of the pins 7, projecting therefrom, engaging the brackets, the lower end of the curtain S having secured thereto a hollow cross-bar 9, havat its ends a hollow lug 10, formed with circular shoulders 11 12 13 14 at the point of intersection of the lug and the tube, the shoulders forming a frictional-surface on which the operating-cord abrades.

At 15 16 17 18 are rollers or pulleys secured in brackets 19 at the four corners of the window-casing, the pulleys on cach side of the curtain being preferably in alinement. These pulleys form the means for movably supporting the curtain-operating cord, for which pins may, if desired, be substituted. I, however, prefer the pulleys. This cord 20, which may be of wire or any other` desired material and which may be continuous or formed in two sections, is located as follows: When two noncontinuous cords are used, one cord is disposed by connecting one end with the lug by a screw 21 or'any .other desired means, running the cord upwardly to the pulley--say 15-on its particular side, as at 20, over the pulley, and downwardly to the lug, as at 2Gb, through the lug against the upper curved shoulder 11, as at 20C, through the tube 9 against the lower opposite shoulder 14, as at 20d, downwardly to the pulley 17 below the curtain on the opposite side of the upperpulley 15, as at 20e, then upwardly, as at 20f, to the lug 10, where its end is secured, as before described. The disposition of the other cord is made in precisely the same way, the cord on either side passing either upwardly or downwardly through the tube and either upwardly or downwardly to the pulley on the opposite side. The cord is drawn tight enough to cause it to bear on the curved shoulders IOC formed in the lugs, and when the curtain is either raised or lowered the movement of the cord allows parts of the same moving together to bear against the curved shoulders in the lugs and produce sufficient frictional .contact to hold the curtain against the stress of the spring in the roller in any of its positions of adjustment up or down.

I have referred to the cord as being continuousand made up of two cords. By this I mean that if a continuous cord is used, the ends being spliced, it could be secured to the lugs, as shown by dotted lines at 22, Fig. 2, in exactly the same manner as the two separate cords, thus making a continuous cord, or when the two separate cords are used the lug connects their ends, thus making a continuous cord, as the part or parts fixed to the lug are stationary in relation to the lug to which they are secured.

The lugs 10 move in the groove 3, formed in the window-casing, thus steadying and guiding the curtain in its movements up and down, which groove also contains the cords.

IIaving described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination of a curtain, a tube secured thereto having curved shoulders at each end thereof, a continuous cord and supports therefor, said cord being fastened to the ends of said tube and passing from one end ofsaid tube over one of the supports into said tube in engagement with one of the shoulders, through said tube and in contact with one of the shoulders as it passes out, over some of the supports, thence through said tube and in contact with two of the shoulders thereon and over the remaining support, substantially as described.

2. The combination Wi th the curtain, of the tube secured to the bottom thereof, a lug formed on cach end of the tube, the rounded shoulders 11, 12, 13, 14, formed at the ends of the tube adjacent the lugs, the pulleys l5, 16, 17, 18 supported above and below said tube on each side thereof, and an operating-cord passing upwardly from the lugs to the pulleys 15, 16, downwardly to and through said tube, opposing the shoulders 11, 13, downwardly past the shoulders 12, 14 to the pulleys 17, 1S and upwardly to the lugs, to which lugs the cord is secured, substantially as (lescribed.

Signed in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, this th day of April, 1807.

LOUIS B. SMYSER.

lVituesses:

HENRY C. EsLING, M. l1. MoNEIL. 

